What Saturday’s Elite Camp says about the state of Texas football

This past weekend at the Texas Elite Camp, I saw signs of a new Longhorn football program. There were kids who had multiple FBS offers competing for one from Texas, and a prospect with a scholarship offer from the Longhorns competing as if he didn’t have one.

During the Nick Saban Era at Alabama, there were players who had offers that had to come to a camp, whether one in Tuscaloosa or at a satellite event, in order to have a scholarship they could commit to. Does that happen with certain kids at every university? Sure, but it hasn’t been that way at Texas over the last few years. Kids who had those offers just had to show up. They’d take in the sights and sounds but would rarely compete.

The fact that Steve Sarkisian and his staff were able to get some of the top-rated 2026 and 2027 guys with offers to participate in a camp says a lot about the current state of the program. It also says a lot about the kids they are recruiting because they all competed and put it on the line to prove they deserved the offer.

Sarkisian talks about culture and competition every day and how it makes a program better, and that message is being disseminated to recruits. Texas’ staff had a chance to put their knowledge, skills, and coaching ability on display last weekend and almost every kid and parent we spoke with walked away extremely impressed.

What does this mean for recruiting? It means Texas is getting a chance to evaluate and work hands-on with guys it has offered and see whether what the staff has observed first hand matches what they saw on film. This helps establish a more thorough evaluation.

Sark and his staff have done a great job of laying the foundation and building a strong structure for future classes. If you thought 2025 recruiting was intriguing and star-studded, wait until some of these campers become official visitors next June, especially if a strong 2024 season is put together in the fall.

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